Plight of the Coaster/Brook Trout

[Guidofisherman]

There has been some great posts lately about the Nipigon Coasters or Brook Trout that has spured me to share some information from a historical perspective about the reasearch and data that has lead to the current plight of this species. It is no secret that I have a passion for Nipigon brookies, but my wife says it is a sickness. For the past few years, I have been volunteering to do Brook Trout Tagging for the Nipigon branch of the MNR. I'm not sharing any secrets, just public information I have gathered over the years to help preserve the species.

The following map shows where the Coasters were and are currently located. There are only a few significant populations left around Lake Superior. Their decline is well documented as a combined result of over fishing, dam construction, logging, transportation, increased pressure and other ecological impacts.

 

The following information is specific to Lake Nipigon and the Nipigon river. This next graph (provided by MNR) shows the historic brook trout population for one part of Lake Nipigon. Estimated numbers of brook trout from which spawn was collected are based on historical spawn collection records 1923 to 1984. Note how the population significantly declined from thousands to hundreds. The current goal of Lake Nipigon and Nipigon River Fisheries Management Plan is to return the population to pre 1930s levels. A loftly goal.

 

With alarm bells going off, the MNR conducted angler surveys in the '90s and early 2000s and released the following. There was a 315% increase in the number of angling hours or pressure on the brook trout from 1993 to 2003. Anglers caught 260% more fish from '93 to '03. There is a shift to younger fish on the spawning beds. The mean age of 4.1 years in 1997 has shifted to 2.5 years in 2003. This is a classic sign of over harvesting. This is shown in the following two graphs. Something had to be done.

 

 

Thanks to the Nipigon MNR biologist Rob Swainson, the following changes have been implimented: stable hydro electric outflow during spawing periods to avoid the redds from becoming exposed, use of single barbless in Lake Nipigon and many other environmental initiatives I'm not going into here.

 

The one I will focus on is the regulation changes to limits and sizes. With the population going down, spawning age going down and fishing pressure going up, The MNR coducted late fall netting operations to get baseline data in 2001-2003. I took their original chart and repesented it into three colours tobetter show the size of fish. In the following chart, YELLOW represents those fish under 18" or 27% of the popultion. RED represents those fish from 18" to 22" or an additional 60% of the population. GREEN represents those fish over 22" or 13% of the poulation. Prior to the 2005 size change, it was possible for anglers to keep both the green and red fish or 73% of the population. This meant that the old regulation was only protecting 27% of the population. Since '05, the only fish you are leagally able to keep are over 22". I know...most angles practice C&R anyway.

 

So has this regulation change had an effect? I'm now going to jump back to the start of the post and my volunteer work tagging the fish. For the past several years, I have kept detailed records of the number of fish caught, their size etc. Here is the graphs of MY actual catch and release records that I provide to the MNR for thier use. It is working along with the other initiatives. Here are the charts for '07 and '08. I can tell you flat out that the reg change to 22' has been a success. I have documented in my own little study that there are more and bigger fish since the change.

 

And to answer one more question. Is a Coaster a Brook Trout??? In 1999 a research program was initiated by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources to determine if coaster brook trout are a unique stock, subspecies or an evolutionary significant unit The genetic results showed that coasters are produced by river brook trout populations, and are an ecological variant rather than a distinct group. This means that healthy brook trout populations within Lake Superior tributaries produce both coaster and typical brook trout and that coasters do not compose a cohesive group (population, stock or ESU) unto themselves. Some riverine populations of brook trout were shown to be closely related, indicating significant movement by coasters between river systems. Based on the number of coasters associated with river populations and the degree of relatedness among tributaries, coaster production varies considerably among Nipigon Bay tributaries. Comparison of hatchery brook trout stock with assessed river populations in these sites indicated that past stocking initiatives did not contribute to brook trout production in the study sites. This work was done at Trent University with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

For more information contact:

Silvia D’Amelio

Trout Unlimited Canada

[email protected]

 

I think my wife is right...I have a sickness. I hope some of this helps inform or clear things up. Here is one more chart I created (based on actual C&R fish) that is specific to these significant Nipigon beauties.

 

 

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

thanks for posting that alan. i'm a big fan of your site and apparently we suffer from a similar affliction.

years ago i worked with the mnr doing habitat assessments for the coaster brook trout initiative and it was a pleasure to experience one in the big lake.

Edited August 23, 2009 by Dr. Salvelinus

[glen]

Great post. Thankyou.

[Guidofisherman]

Here is some proof to the the success of C&R and the management plans. I first caught and tagged it in '07 and again this year. In two years, there has been a significant weight gain....no... not my double chins, but the fish almost doubled its weight. The old scar is probably from a prop.

 

[irishfield]

Thanks Al !! Can't wait to get back up again in the near future!

[Spiel]

Very informative! Thanks Al.

[Moosebunk]

Very cool Al.

 

Fresh off our trip I can say the fun of Nipigon never grows old. The specks are awesome through and through. Report to come.